Cops depend on sponsor gadgets

Sources in the police department said that recently a senior IPS officer in the rank of ADGP sent a letter to home minister N. China Rajappa requesting him to allocate special funds for traffic management in Vizag city on the lines of Hyderabad, Bengaluru and other cities in the country. However, the cops have not got any communication from the government as yet.

DCP (Traffic) K. Mahendra Patrudu said that over 70 per cent of motorists tend to violate traffic rules in Vizag.

The city traffic police have collected a whopping total of Rs 5.5 crore in 2014 in terms of traffic fines while the number was Rs 6 crore in 2013. This year also the cops have collected about Rs 5 crore so far, but the entire fine amount goes to the state exchequer and not even a single penny is used for road safety projects in city.

A senior police officer on condition of anonymity said that traffic cops virtually depends on sponsors from a few PSUs and business establishments for conducting traffic awareness campaigns, installation of traffic gadgets and barricades and few others to mitigate the road-accidents and regulate the vehicular traffic.

If the government sanctions at least 25 per cent of the fine amount, collected from the violators of road rules, for betterment of traffic management, Vizag cops will definitely bring change in traffic regulations.